Donald Trump should check his facts before attacking the 9th Circuit

President Donald Trump’s call for dismantling the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is, like so many of his demands, based on a misunderstanding of reality.

The 9th Circuit is not the nation’s most reversed appellate court, as president implies. But such facts are beside the point. Courts make decisions based on their reading of the Constitution, statutes and precedent. As was reported by The Sacramento Bee Monday, 9th Circuit Court decisions are hardly outside the mainstream.

There was, for example, the sad case of Carol Sachs, a Berkeley woman whose legs were amputated after she was run over by a train in Austria. Sachs’ lawyer filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco rather than Austria, clearly a gamble.